Tubular fence post construction



Nov. 2, 1948.

w. L. BURRITT 2,452,630

TUBULAR FENCE POST CONSTRUCTION Filed March 29, 1944 Zmnento;

attorneg Patented Nov. 2, 1948 UNITED STATES FATEN'E @EEHQE 2,452,630 TUBULAR FENCE ros'i ooNs'rnno rion WalterL Burritt, Omaha, Nebr.

Application March29, 1944, Serial No. 528,532

S'Glaims. 1.

The present invention" re1ates -toposts; more particularly" fence" posts" employed for landeneiosur purposes;

It"isan object of the-invention to provide a fence 'p'o'st construction which is of light weight, durable, strong and easily manufactured.

Another object of the'inventi'on is to provide an approximately hollow fence post which is so constructed that it is provided with a pointed end during manufacture" thereof forfacilitating an installation of the post in comparatively hard soils.

It is 'well known that-the forests" of the United States which heretofore have supplied conventional woodfence posts are becoming rapidly depleted? Also-wood posts'rot rapidly during use and-often split When-driven into hard soils, and the present inventionaims-toprovide a post which is economical in construction for obviating theundesirable features attendant-with the use ofwoodenposts, together witha provision of a post which, for installation in the softer soils, does notrequire' ad-ig'gin ofpost holesin the earth;-

' the drjawiiigl Figure l is a side elevation of afncepest einb'o'd'y'ihg the present invention, a

medial portion thereof being broken away and 'snowingtne bstm averticai position of use;

ni'gurez is 'aviewj sim'ilar to Figure I and showin'gth post turned at an angle of 90 degrees with respect to the showing thereof in Figure 1.

Figure" 3 isan enlarged to'p'plari vie'w of'the post.

Fi gure i'is atraiisve'rs'e section of an upper earners of-the post; the new being taken sub- 'staritially on Iine4=4 of =Figtire 3.-

Figure 5 is an enlarged view of a portioii of the post and showing-- 2? fence wire attached thereto.

lz 'ig-urefi is' a plan view of a fenc'e' wireatt'ach ingdevice" preferably employed in conjunction with-the new post structure;

In the'd'rawing, l0 genera-11y indicatesthe fence post of' the present invention. Structurallyth'e new postis tubular in'plan' as shown in Figure 3; being formed of a-hom'ogeneous elongated sheet of metal having a main bodifportiori l i Arib I2--is disposedoutstandingly and longitudinally with respect to-said maih body portion, a's-shown-in Figure-1.- Preferably the r-ib extends the-entirelength of-the main body portion of the post.

As best shown in Figure 2, the rib I2 is preferably: provided by" crimping the sheet of metal adjacent the longitudinal edge l3 thereof in a manner-'wherebythe r-ib-outstands tibih said sheet at approximately a right angle and by bending the sheet 'upon itself for said purpose.

The rib I2 is provided with a plurality of apertures it Which are equi-distantly spaced apart afew inches with respect to each other and disposed in a row, as best shown in Figure 1, for the purpose of receiving the later described fence wire fastening element shown in Figure 6. The other longitudinal edge l5, together with the edge iii, are welded or otherwise suitably secured, to the main body portion H of the post and preferably 'a'transversely disposed brace i6 is employed. The brace is preferably Welded to the main body portion of the post as indicated at X.

The sheet metal is provided with a plurality of indentations H for stiffening and reinforcing purposes, only two of said indentations being depict'ed 'for' convenience of illustration, said indentations stiffening the comparatively thin sheet metal. In practice, the sheet of metal may be of 24 gauge-and preferably the post is galvanized for rust proofing purposes.

The lower end of the post is incised and cut away for providing a comparatively sharp pointed end i8 for facilitating driving the post into the s'oil. The cut-away portion provides a bottom edge lfi which is disposed at an angle of approximately' 45 degrees with respect to the length of the post and for driving the latter into hard soil such as clay or the like, a more acute angle may be provided fo'r'said bottom edge.

The upper edge 28 of the post is covered with a jig, not shown, which fits snugly against the inner Wall and the outer annular wall of the post for facilitating a driving of th latter into the soil 2-1 in a vertical direction.

Referringto Figure 6, 22 indicates generally the fence wire fastening element of the present invention.

The device 22 isformed of a single piece of wire of suitable length, having a main body portion 23. Approximately midway between the ends of theniain body portion 23, the latter is provided with a coil 24. I'he coil provides an aperture 25 for receiving a fence wire 26 therethrough. At times when the wire 26 is barbed and provided with-outstanding tangs, not shown, the coil 26 is provided not closed upon itself as shown in Figure 5 for facilitating either drawing the barbed Wire through the aperture 25 or placing the coil 24 aboutthe wire.

In operation, a line offence posts are erected by driving their pointed ends into the soil and in o'rder to attach the wire 25 to the posts, the WiPe 'isdrawn through. the aperture- 25 of-the 3 member 22 and at this time, the ends 21 and 28 are disposed at a right angle with respect to the main body portion 23 of the device 22 as shown in Figure 6.

The ends 21 and 2B are spaced apart a distance with respect to each other complemental to the distance between the apertures 14 of the rib l2, whereby the ends 21 and 28 may be inserted through respective apertures M of the rib and bent upwardly as at A and downwardly as at B respectively, as shown in Figure 5, for attaching the wire 26 to the post.

In order to provide a good installation, preferably an anvil is held against the points C of the element 22 and the operator strikes the portions D with a hammer for swaging the element 22 for fastening it securely to the post and in instances where the coils 24 are loose, pliers or the like are employed for causing the opposite sides of the coil to be closed towards each other, as shown in Figure 5.

The manner of manufacturing the posts of the present invention embraces providing an elongated, comparatively thin sheet of metal. The first part of the operation is to place the sheet upon a female die, the latter being under a power press mechanism having a male die carried thereby. The male die upon its descent causes the indentation l! to be provided in instances where said indentations are employed. During the descent of the male die, the latter incises the sheet metal to provide the inclined lower edge of the post at the time the latter is rolled as later described. During the descent of said die, the apertures H are simultaneously punched through the sheet of metal.

The next step of the method is to crimp the sheet adjacent one of the longitudinal edges there of to provide the rib l2 and in a manner whereby the oppositely disposed holes for receiving the wire fastening element 23 are properly aligned.

The sheet of metal is now bent upon itself longitudinally to provide the brace IS the latter, at the time, being disposed at a right angle with respect to the main body portion of the sheet. If desired, adjacent the edge [5 of the sheet and in alignment with said edge, the sheet is further processed to provide a flange 29, the latter being disposed at a right angle with respect to the brace 16 and in approximate parallelism with the main body portion of the then flat sheet.

After the steps as above described have been consummated, the sheet is then rolled upon itself to dispose the edge I5 inwardly of the sleeve thus provided and the edge l3 outwardly of said sleeve with the brace l6 transversely disposed, as shown in Figure 3. The edges I3 and I5 are now welded or otherwise suitably secured to the main body portion of the post thus provided.

The invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from the spirit or essential characteristics thereof. The present embodiment is therefore to be considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive, the scope of the invention being indicated by the appended claims rather than by the foregoing description, and all changes which come within the meaning and range of equivalency of the claims are therefore intended to be embraced therein.

I claim:

1. A sheet-metal post formed of a single sheet of metal rolled into a configuration having a generally tubular portionand a bracing portion,

said sheet being elongated and one longitudinal edge of said sheet being disposed overlapping all the outer side of said tubular portion, the other longitudinal edge of said sheet being disposed against the inner side of said tubular portion, a longitudinal section of said tubular portion being folded longitudinally so that the two parts of said longitudinal section are disposed in approximate parallelism with respect to each other, said two parts having spaced apertures therethrough, the apertures of one of said parts being in alignment with the apertures in the other of said parts.

2. A sheet-metal post formed of a single sheet of metal rolled into a configuration having a generally tubular portion and a bracing portion, said sheet being elongated and one longitudinal edge of said sheet being disposed overlapping the outer side of said tubular portion, the other longitudinal edge of said sheet being disposed against the inner side of said tubular portion, a longitudinal section of said tubular portion being folded longitudinally sothat the two parts of said longitudinal section are disposed in approximate parallelism with respect to each other, said two parts having spaced apertures therethrough, the apertures of one of said parts being in alignment with the apertures in the other of said parts, that longitudinal edge of that one of said parts which is disposed farthest from said first mentioned longitudinal edge being rigidly secured to said bracing portion at the junction between said tubular portion and said bracing portion.

3. A sheet-metal post formed of a single sheet of metal rolled into a configuration having a generally tubular portion and a bracing portion, said sheet being elongated and one longitudinal edge of said sheet being disposed overlapping and secured to the outer side of-said tubular portion, the other longitudinal edge of said sheet being disposed against the inner side of and secured to said tubular portion, a longitudinal section of said tubular portion being folded longitudinally so that the two parts of said longitudinal section are disposed in approximate parallelism with respect to each other, said two parts having spaced apertures therethrough, the apertures of one of said parts being in alignment with the apertures in the other of said parts. I

l. A post as described in claim 1 in which said second mentioned longitudinal edge of said sheet is rigidly secured to the inner side of said tubular portion.

5. A post as described in claim 1 in which said second mentioned longitudinal edge of said sheet overlaps the tubular portion thereof at a point approximately diametrically opposite said first mentioned longitudinal edge across said tubular portion.

6. A sheet-metal post formed of a single sheet of metal rolled into a tubular configuration, one longitudinal edge of said sheet being disposed overlapping the outer side of a longitudinal section of the sheet, which section is disposed between the longitudinal edges of the sheet, a second longitudinal section of said sheet being folded longitudinally so that two parts of said longitudinal section are disposed in approximate parallelism with respect to each other, said two parts having spaced apertures therethrough, each of the apertures of one of said parts being in align ment with one of the apertures in the other of said parts.

WALTER L. BURRITI.

(References on following page) REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date Cummings July 31, 1900 Maxwell Apr. 28, 1903 Connors Feb. 28, 1911 Sonnier July 21, 1914 10 Number 

